Dexcom President and CEO Kevin Sayer told CNBC on Friday that the company’s Super Bowl commercial was successful in arousing interest in its glucose control system for people with diabetes.
The announcement with musician and actor Nick Jonas, who has diabetes, aired Sunday during the NFL championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The game attracted 96.4 million viewers, its worst ranking since 2007. But for Dexcom, its first place in the Super Bowl has proven effective, Sayer told the host of “Mad Money.” Jim Cramer.
“As for media impressions (those who hear the word or name of Dexcom), we had five times more media impressions in one day than all we had last year,” Sayer said. “As for the opportunities that come into our system, as people [got] interested in technology, the largest lead generation day in history. … The message came out very strong. “
That message, according to a Dexcom press release about the announcement, called for “better care for people with diabetes who still prick their fingers in pain to measure glucose levels.” The Dexcom device, called the G6 CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) system, tracks glucose data in real time through a smartphone app and the information can be shared with multiple people.
The Dexcom announcement has received some criticism. According to a Healthline article, people raised their concern that it could stigmatize people who still control their blood glucose with a finger prick device. Others wondered if it was advisable for Dexcom to spend money on a Super Bowl ad (which is known to be expensive) when some people with diabetes skip treatment because they can’t afford it.
Sayer said Dexcom wanted to take advantage of all the interest associated with the Super Bowl to make sure people know about continuous glucose control.
He previously shared with CNBC a story about a Dexcom customer whose mother woke up in the middle of the night, who saw through the app that the person’s blood sugar had gone down. “When you can do things like that and deliver results like that with a system, you’re really solving a very serious problem,” Sayer told Cramer in November 2019.
“We really need to raise awareness about this technology and make it reach people, and we really feel like it was deployed and shown through Nick Jonas, our spokesperson, he absolutely talked about it,” Sayer added Friday.
Jonas, a Grammy-nominated musician, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 13 years old.
Shares of Dexcom closed Friday’s session up 0.6% at $ 412.56. Shares of the San Diego-based company have risen 68 percent in the past twelve months.
In 2020, Dexcom’s revenue grew 31% year-over-year, to $ 1.93 billion. In fourth-quarter and full-year results released Thursday, Dexcom said it expects revenue for 2021 to be between $ 2.21 and $ 2.31 million.